Driving mechanism for push-button tuners



Oct. 7, 1952 c. w. WANDREY 2,612,782

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR PUSH-BUTTON TUNERS Filed Aug. 25, 1950 F/gl APERTURES FOR PLANETARY GEARS CLARENCE W, WANDREY IN VEN TOR.

H/$ ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 7, 1952 TUNERS clsiiicev w; waists; iiiijs igiiiiii;

Corporation; a corporation I of ze it Radio Illinois antennas; 23, 1950, 'si iai 's;;.1 i1,0r

' 4 claims. (Cl."74;10.3 3)

Push button tuners are well-known to the art,

and it has been considered desirablethat some type of manual control member 7 be included therein tof tune a receiver incorporating thetu: r tosignal irequencies other than those selected by the push buttons. It has been usual practice to provide such a manual control mem-. ber mechanically coupled to the actuatin shaft of the tuner through a frietionclutch arrangemenu The friction clutch isso cqr lstructedv that whenever a push 3 button is depressed .to. actuate the tuner to a preselectedvsignalufrequency, the clutch automaticallyreleases.themanual control memperjromthetuner flhistype of :tuner has P150718}? 11 1i? sa isieotory withit ex ption t at fl he. P 1 i12.h S,. 8n, v0 11 .ddifficultand ex.- s'i o, constr ts a ri tion clutch which, W11. 1 il eifise lqe tfif ivo .ioo d ion, establishesa i drive, heme. th /manual controlflmeme her and the actuating shaft of thetuner without undue slip a e- Q'Ih present invention provides drivingmechanism which may be; conveniently utilized i'or releasably coupling the manual con.- tri l member ofa push-button tunerto the..ac-.

mechanism comprises a first bevel gear flxed ,to theactuatin shaft of the tuner, asecond bevel geafrotatably mounted on the actuating shaft,

an apertur'e'd'; gear'interposed between the .bevel.

ge'efarsf and having; planetary gears, rotatably mounted within its apertures and coacting with hf e geafsl osec nd boevfila o r .is roe tatedb'y the manual control member andas long, as the apertured gear is allowed to rotatelfreely nojmotion' istranslated to the first bevel gear firied'to the actuatingshaft of thetuner. The..

mechanism also includes a latchso arranged that it'l is held out of'engagement with the aperturedagear, whenever a push button is depressed, thus.

enabling the ear torotate freely, However, when all 'the p'ush buttons are in a released positiong f the 'latchengages f the aperturedgear pre-, o

translafidifrom thefmanual control member to d for convenience. .willipbe :1de-- tion thereby..

tua mg shaft thereon The improved driving;

I enim a e o e omdependent spoils prior-art clutch mechanisms his t is, a dins yr arr-obj ct; his na on: o Pr v d an im ov ,mech n smior releasably: coupling apparatus to a driving means for-actuafi jd 'sl p sline-to the io s use f the;

A further DJ C QHhi invention s v an i ve driving mecha m: ine -us. in llllfihs'z i-tu r o li lion reisasably counlins; a manual control member to the actuating shaft of r i v r 1} IZL'ITL .":"1: TI J 1,

a t er 3b tofi hi n en onz a p op;- eu mp ov d;d iv ns-;:mehanism-thaws Simple and t n to onstructiv which; operates witht a degree Of: efficiency not present in usual prior art devices- 5 a The features of thisinvention whicharebe lieved to benew aresetgforth with-particularity in the appended claims. The inyenti on;-;-itself;,

however, together with further objects andflda t es thereof s beauu rs ooo :br reference to the following descr tion when taken in conjunction with the accompanyin drawing, inwhichl H 15-. W 59 717: Figure 1 illustrates a-push-button tuner incur-.7- porating the driving mechanism ofrthe inven $1011, A, 1 "luff sniff t Figure 2 shows a portion, o thedrizving mechanismas viewed from the section lines 2-2101 Figs urel! ds, 1 =1 s I; 11 41 Figures 8-5 represent various components of the v;

driving mechanism;

The push-button tuner of Figure- -ll- ;includes.si supporting frame N which may besecured to the chassis or panel 1 lot a radio receiver ortheiikesa Frame 10 includes; a: pair-of cross bracketsrl2=,- |:3W-

spacedv one from the other, and serving etc-super port variqus push-rods l 4-=whichare actuated bye; push-buttons l5 mechanically coupled to; the;

push-rods by threaded studs through panel l}. i

wah

tremity andagainst stops IBMatthe, other, for

urging the rods .intoa disengaged-position with stops l9 bearing against crossbracket'l 2.;.-Rodsot I4 individually include an adjustable arm; 20.;

rotatably secured thereto for purposes to be 'de-r scribed. o

. .The tuner further comprises a. carriage 21 m tatably mounted on framefllfl byfnieans of-an ac" J tuatingshaftzz 'sThecarriag'e 2t includes a-fia'lir i of cross bars 23, 24 and a strip 25 mounted in end s I ll, bearing against cross bracketl3" at one exen:

portions 28, 21 of the carriage. The strip is rotatably mounted in the end portions and is mechanically connected by means of flexible connecting elements 29 to tuning cores 28a, 28b, 28c associated with tuning elements 30a, 30b, 30c mounted on frame I0, so that axial motion may be imparted to thetuning cores within the tuningelementsi' '2 The push' button tuner as thus far described is well-known to the art. When one of th pushbuttons l 5 is depressed, the corresponding adjustable arm 20 bears against one of the bars'23, 24 to rotate carriage 2| a preselected amount determined by the setting of the particular arm. This causes the tuning cores 28a, 28b, 280 to have a preselected tuning position within elements 30a, 30b, 300 corresponding to a predetermined signal frequency. When the push-button is released, it is returned to its original position by means of associated spring H but carriage 2| is maintained in its set position due to frictional engagement of actuating shaft 22 with supporting frame l0.-- The various arms 20 may be adjusted so as torotate'carriage 2| selected amounts when the various push-buttons are depressed, causingthe'tuning cores to have various preselected positions within-tuning-elements 30a, 30b, 30c.

The present invention provides a driving mechanism 3| for enabling the various tuning cores to be-manually adjusted throughout the tuning range of elements 39a,'3| |b, 300. This mechanism comprises "a' bevel'gear or disc 32 having radial serrations and fixed to actuating shaft 22 of the tuner for rotation therewith, and a further bevel gearor disc 33-also having radial serrations and fixed to'a driving shaft 34 rotatably mounted coaxially' witli shaft '22. An apertured gear or looking plate 35- isrotatably mounted on shaft 22 interposed between disos'32 and 33, and has a pluralityof planetary gears 36 rotatably mounted in its apertures and c'oacting with the serrations in the discs 32 and 33.

A'driving gear 31 is fixed to driving shaft 34 and engages a worm gear 38, the latterbeing actuated by'a manual control knob 39 mechanically coupledlth'ereto by means of a shaft 40. Driving shaft 34 and disc 33 are urged towards disc 32 by means of a spring 4| and retaining clip 42 so'that there ispositive engagement between planetary gears 36 and gears 32, 33.

Thepush-button tuner further includes a plate 43 pivoted to'frame I and carrying a latch 44. A spring 45 is secured to plate 43 and cross bracketl3. so that latch 44 is normally urged into engagement with the peripheral teeth of gear-35 to preventrotation of this gear. Moreover, plate 43 is so'disposed that whenever one of the push-buttons is depressed, the corresponding push-rod l4 bears against the plate and releases thelatcht Figures 2-5 show in greater detail the various componentsof driving mechanism 3|.

When all the push-buttons are in a released position as shown in Figure 1, latch 44, as previously stated; isurged into engagement with the peripheral teeth of gear 35 due to the action of spring 45. Rotation of knob 39 causes driving gear 31. and, therefore, driving shaft 34 to rotate. Rotation ofdriving shaft 34 causes gear 33. to rotate, and rotation of this gear drives the planetary gears 36; Under the above-described released condition of the push-buttons, latch 44 prevents rotation of gear 35, and the rotation of the planetary gears causes gear 32 and, thus, actuatingshaft 22 to rotate. In this manner,

4. rotation of knob 39 causes carriage 2| to be rotated and cores 28a, 28b, 28c to be varied within tuning elements 30a, 30b, 30c. Whenever a pushbutton I5 is depressed, its corresponding pushrod l4 bears against plate 43 releasing latch 44. Carriage 2| is now free to rotate under the control of the push buttons alone, since rotation of gear 33 merely rotates planetary gears 33 and gear 35 while gear 32 remains stationary. In other words, in this condition the free rotation of member 35 effectively prevents a driving force from being transferred from either one of the gears 32, 33 to the other. Therefore, carriage 2| may be freely rotated to a preselected position corresponding to the adjustment of arm 20 of a depressed push-rod I4.

A constructed embodiment of the invention has been found to operate with a high degree of emciency. A positive drive is obtained between driving shaft 34 and actuating shaft 22 when latch 44 engages gear 35, and the slippage effect of usual prior art friction clutches is obviated for all practical purposes;

This invention provides, therefore, an improved driving mechanism for push-button tuners or for other purposes, which may be simply and conveniently constructed and yet which operates in a highly satisfactory manner. 7

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and described modifications may be made and it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim: I

1. A tuning device for a radio receiver and the like comprising: a supporting frame; a series of push rods slidably supported by said frame; an actuating shaft rotatably supported by said frame; a carriage secured to said shaft for se-' lective engagement'and actuation by said pushrods to selected angular positions; a first bevelgear mounted on said actuating shaft; a second bevel gear spaced from and supported coaxially with said first gear for rotation relative to said shaft; a locking member interposed'between said gears; at least one planetary gear rotatably supported by said locking member in mechanical driving engagement with said first and second gears; a driving mechanism for rotating said second gear; a stop member supported from said frame for movement from a first position in which the stop member engages said locking member and completes a driving connection from said driving mechanism to said actuating shaft to a second position in which the stop member releases said locking member for rotation relative to said shaft; and a further member fixed to said stop member and operated by said push-rods for actuating said stop member from its first to its second position.

2. A tuning device for a radio receiver and the like comprising: a supporting frame; a series of push rods slidably supported by said frame; an actuating shaft rotatably supported by said frame; a carriage secured to said shaft for selective engagement and actuation by said pushrods to selected angular positions; a first bevelgear mounted on said actuating shaft; a second bevel gear spaced from and supported coaxially with said first gear for rotation relative to said shaft; a locking member interposed between said gears; at least one'planetary gear rotatably supported by said locking member in mechanical driving engagement with said first and second gears; a driving mechanism for rotating said sec ond gear; a stop member supported from said frame for movement from a first position in which the stop member engages said locking member and completes a driving connection from said driving mechanism to said actuating shaft to a second position in which the stop member releases said locking member for rotation relative to said shaft; a further member fixed to said stop member and operated by said push-rods for actuating said stop member from its first to its second position; and resilient means normally biasing said stop member to its aforesaid first position.

3. A tuning device for a radio receiver and the like comprising: a supporting frame; a series of push-rods slidably supported by said frame; an actuating shaft rotatably supported by said frame; a carriage secured to said shaft for selective engagement and actuation by said push rods to selected angular positions; a first bevel,

gear amxed to said actuating shaft; a second bevel gear spaced'from and supported coaxially with said first gear for rotation relative to said shaft; a locking disc supported intermediate said gears for rotation relative to said shaft and having a plurality of apertures therein; a plurality of planetary gears rotatably supported in said apertures of said locking disc in mechanical driving engagement with said first and second gears; a driving mechanism for rotating said second gear; a stop member supported from said frame for movement from a first position in which the stop member engages said locking disc and completes a driving connection from said driving mechanism to said actuating shaft to a second position in which the stop member releases said 7 biasing said stop member to its aforesaid first position.

4. A tuning device for a radio receiver and the like comprising: a supporting frame; a series of push-rods slidably supported by said frame; an actuating shaft rotatably supported by said frame; a carriage secured to said shaft for selective engagement and actuation by said push rods to selected angular positions; a first bevel gear affixed to said actuating shaft; a second bevel gear spaced from and supported coaxia'lly with said first gear for rotation relative to said shaft; a peripherally toothed locking disc supported intermediate said gears for rotation relative to said shaft and having a plurality of apertures therein; a plurality of planetary gears rotatably supported in said apertures of said locking disc in mechanical driving engagement with said first and second gears; a driving mechanism for rotating said second gear; a plate pivoted to said supporting frame for actuation by said pushrods; and a latch rotatably supported by said frame and mechanically coupled to said plate for movement thereby from a first position in which the latch engages the peripheral teeth of said locking disc and completes a driving connection from said driving mechanism to said actuating shaft to a second position in which the latch releases the locking disc for rotation relative to said shaft. v

CLARENCE W. WANDREY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 838,655 Sharp Dec. 18, 1906 1,898,067 Stone Feb. 21, 1933 1,963,308 Molinelli June 19, 1934 2,367,860 Gersch Jan. 23, 1945 

